Interprovincial News

New Zealand Mail, Issue 357, 14 December 1878, Page 17

Interprovincial News

The West Coast Times says :—" Mining at Elumara is reported to be progressing most favorably, and there are, numbers making from jc',B to £lO per week per man, with not few richer claims still. Considerable parcels of g:old were purchased by the banks last Saturc'iay, ana on the last two Saturdays there was a. good business done at the several hotels and stores in the town, when it was generally remarked that cash was becoming more plentiful. The mining report of the local paper &ays : —«lrwin's claim still holds good, as the two last washings were the best they have had —55 and 54ozs. respectively—which will give tlhem about £2O per week per man.' " The Wairarapa Daily says that a petition, addressed to the Minister of Public Works, is in course of signature at Featherston, praying that a Sunday tiain may be run between that township and Wellington and vice versa. There can be no doubt that by granting this reasonable 'request a great public benefit would be conferred, enabling as it would both Wellington and Wairarapa residents to enjoy an agreeable excursion during the summer season at the outlay of very little additional trouble to the railway Btaff. It would per-

haps be well to give the petition wider circulation throughout-the'district', 1 but in any case we hope ■to hear that the Minister has seen fit to comply with what appears to be a generally expressed desire. i , •:.» Prom Christchurch we hear of the 'first application yet made to walk the hospital. The application was received on the 2nd instant, and the Globe commenting on the fact'says:— " Any suggestion that may lead to ah extension of the hospital's usefulness will; we are certain, be received in the same spirit in which it is offered, so we say, with all due diffidence, that there cannot how be any reason' why it should not serve as a school as well as an hospital. Without knowing anything at all about this particular student, we may safely say that if the system is introduced, it will lead to the rearing up, by our own motion, of a class in which the community is sadly deficient. The mere leading of students round the hospital certainly will not make physicians and surgeons, but it will give'that" experience at home which has now to be sought abroad.' 1 ' In an article on the Native Lands policy of the Government the Wanganui Chronicle says :—"Things could not well be in-a more unsatisfactory state than they are at the present moment—the Government occupying a position analogous to that of the dog, in the manger. They will neither, buy themselves nor let anybody else buy. . ... It .will be remembered that when the Hon. Mr. Sheehan first entered upon the duties of his office as Nattve Minister he said it was the intention of the Government to retire absolutely from the field as native land purchasers. He has completely- changed front in that particular. We do not so much find fault with the change of front as with the present inglorious inaction, which is neither fair to themselves, to the natives, to the country, or to jthe,. unfortunate speculators." ,* t ,„,

The Wairarapa Guardian says :—"A good story is told in connection with native land purchasing, in which a well-known Wellington merchant has taken 2>art. Mr. S., say, desired to work a little swindle, and being a personal and political friend of the Hon. Mr. Sheehan, obtained a letter from him to a Native Lands Court Judge, couched in those peculiar terms which may indicate a request or a direction according to the view the reader takes, and which indicated that the Native'Minister woald be obliged if Mr. S. could be assisted in the purchase of a certain block containing some twenty or thirty thousand acres. All things happened, and all times elapsed, apparently, in furtherance of the scheme, and Mr. S. paid upwards of, £2OOO on account, when it was suddenly discovered that the natives had sold to some one else, and that Mr. S.'s money had absolutely gone.. , All the parties are dreadfully sold, but ;perhaps Mr. Sheehan will make it all right with his.friend by laying him on to something.better.?' r .-. The Nelson Colonist 'says' that oh November 20, Mr. A: Greenfield, Commissioner of Crown Lands, in accordance with a Gazette-notifica-tion, set up to public auction the lease; Of the Government wharf .for a period extending from the Ist of December to the 31st of 1879. There was a large attendance'-at the Crown Lands Office, and Mr.. Greenfield having read the conditions of auction, a number of questions were put to him. asking his interpretation of certain of the wharf regulations. He said that the wharf would be subject to city rates, and he believed also to the wa,fce'r rates. He gave his opinion as to the meaning, .of one or two clauses in the regulations, but he said he had had nothing to do in,-' the. drawing of same, and he wa3 unable to interpret,them. Having intimated that the bidding must advance £SO a bid, Mr. J. S.Cross commenced the business with a bid at the upset" price. Mr. Cock, on behalf of Messrs! N. Edwards and Co., followed with a bid of £650 ; and Mr. Parker, a West Coast gentleman, we believe, advanced to £7OO. The following bids succeeded :—Mr. Cock, £750 ; Mr. Cross, £800; Mr. Parker, £850; Mr. Cross, £9OO ; and Mr. Cock, £950. The wharf was' then knocked down to Messrs. N. Edwards and Co. for the period named, at the rental of' £950 per annum. ; ■ ■ The Manawatu Herald of the 10th instant sa ys : —" We understand that renewed efforts are being made by the County Chairman to obtain a refund of the 20 per cent! allowance from the land fund upon the purchase money of the Manchester Block, sold to the Emigrant and Colonists Aid Corporation. The law is, that 20 per cent, of all land sold in any county is returned to such county. This the Government have hitherto declined to do as regards the Manchester Block. The purchase money amounting to some £65,000, the 20 per cent, would be a splendid haul for the district; in fact, it is so rich a prize that the Government are very chary of allowing it to pass into the hands of the county. We presume their ostensible reason is, that being, a f special' sale; it does not come under the usual land fund arrangements ; the actual reason no doubt is, a strong disinclination to part with the sum of £13,000, which would be the amount of the refund. The land- having been sold, and the Government having received the purchase money, we cannot see any fair reason why in this instance the 20,per'cent, should be,withheld." ' ''.,'"', , : • ■,'■:

In a recent article on the hospital management at Christchurch, after saying that it heartily approved of an effort to make the hospital self-supporting, the Globe draws attention to the following case' :—" Lt appears that some celebrity has accrued to a well-known medical gentleman of Christchurch, one of the hospital staff, from his successful treatment of ophthalmic diseases, and a person suffering in that way has been sent down from Patea to obtain the benefit of that gentleman's services, being the while lodged in the hospital. The Board agreed to take charge of the patient, and fixed the payment to be made by him at £2 2s. per week. Why the particular sum of two guineas should bejehargea is not apparent, and it would puzzle any of the gentlemen who passed it to explain why £2 would not do as

•well aa two guineas. Still we may pause here and inquire if it really does cost two guineas or £2 to feed, lodge, and cure any patient {except in very exceptional cases ?) _ In short, the charge seems to us quite exorbitant, and, without having statistics at hand to back our opinion, we have no hesitation in saying that the cost to the institution of the case quoted will not be more than half that sum. We feel aure that it is only necessary to draw the attention of the board to this seeming overcharge, to have it corrected if necessary, or we shall not be in the least displeased to be set right if we are wrong."